Is there ever a quiet year? Not at APIL. But the last 12 months have indeed been among the busiest and work is already gearing up for an active 2026 too – watch this space.
Campaign work in 2025 has included fighting for better rights for victims of child sexual abuse, and for people injured due to negligent NHS care.
We continued to take our campaigns to Parliament in the drive to ensure that those responsible for making personal injury policy understand fully how their decisions truly affect personal injury victims.
It has included our evidence to the Justice Select Committee’s access to justice inquiry when we summed up the harsh reality that injured people face after 15 years of policies that have seriously undermined access to justice, and full and fair compensation.
Legislation such as the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act, fixed costs not keeping up with inflation, and the collapse of compensation for victims of road crashes all lay bare the avalanche of ‘prejudice’ against personal injury claimants, we told the inquiry.
This year we have seen misleading and untrue rhetoric about what is at the root of the NHS’s eye-watering compensation bill. The simple truth being that avoidable harm is behind every pound spent, we told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) as it scrutinised clinical negligence costs.
Using our own research, we warned that policymakers should not be sucked into focusing on the wrong NHS targets. But they needed to look at the whole picture, including that a vast part of the compensation bill is due to damages for the care of children left with complex needs after suffering life-long catastrophic birth injuries, we said.
Much work has gone on behind the scenes in 2025 in the fight for better treatment of child sexual abuse victims, including APIL briefing Rotherham MP Sarah Champion as she tabled an amendment to the Victims and Courts Bill, calling for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS) to be widened so more abuse survivors can apply to receive damages.
A proposal, introduced without explanation by the Government as part of the Crime and Policing Bill to give defendants in child sexual abuse civil cases a new legal route to get proceedings against them dropped was also strongly opposed by APIL. The Bill will also scrap the current three-year time limit survivors have to bring a civil case for damages against their abusers, which we welcome.
This year saw APIL’s flagship campaign Rebuilding Shattered Lives win a second top industry award this time with Rusty’s Story being named the best short film at the Association Excellence Awards.
Injury Awareness Week, held every June, was taken to Westminster for the first time. It allowed the APIL team to have valuable conversations with parliamentarians, including select committee members. The campaigns and communication team has started preparations for 2026’s event.
The Serious Injury Guide marked its tenth anniversary in 2025. It is used in catastrophic personal injury claims where damages exceed £250,000, excluding clinical negligence and asbestos-related disease claims. A joint venture between APIL, FOIL and several major insurers, it was praised by parties on all sides as the ‘gold standard’ for running these claims. If you have not yet signed up, make it your resolution for 2026.
2025 also saw the launch of APIL’s Corporate Supporter Scheme which gives law firms the chance to collaborate strategically with us, and work together to face key challenges in the sector. To find out more about joining the scheme, click here.
As the year comes to a close, there is much uncertainty for many after the Mazur ruling and the implications regarding unauthorised fee-earners conducting litigation. APIL continues to be at the forefront of discussions on the fallout from the judgment as the dedicated voice of the claimant PI sector.
Matthew Tuff
APIL president